Torremolinos

Torremolinos

Recently, me and my friend Brenda spent an enjoyable week in Torremolinos, Southern Spain, at a great hotel called La Puenta Real – the aim was for me to have a rest and get over a long-standing chest problem.
Now let’s have a brief look at the town:
Torremolinos is situated in Andalusia and is west of Malaga. Before the era of tourism, it was a small fishing village and was actually the first of the Costa del Sol resorts to be developed. It is particularly popular with the British, Irish and Scandinavian tourists and it also has a large expatriate population. Incidentally, there were 69,389 inhabitants in 2013, and the township covered 20 Square Kilometres.
The resort has a beach which is 8 kilometres in length, and interestingly, there are cycle and skating lanes alongside the promenade. It has one of the best climates in Europe – temperatures are in the 30s in the summer and upper teens in the winter, which makes it a perfect place to take either a winter or summer break.
It is well-known for its exciting all-inclusive nightlife and has numerous bars and clubs catering for the LGBT community. Interestingly, it hosted the World Pride in 2017 in conjunction with Madrid, and it has its own Pride in June.
It is likely that the Romans founded the current town and it is thought that it originally had about 2,000 inhabitants.
Over the years the town has been taken over by people like the Moors, North African pirates and in the eighteenth century was almost destroyed by an Anglo-Dutch flotilla.
As mentioned, the town has recently adopted an extremely liberal outlook and its first gay bar was founded in 1962. Unfortunately, there was a backlash from the Spanish regime in the 1970s who arrested many homosexuals.
The name Torre (Tower) and Molino (Mill) reflects the many water mills that once covered the area of which only one survives (Molino de Inca).
In the 1950s such celebrities as Orson Welles and Frank Sinatra visited the resort.
So, if you have the opportunity to visit Torremolinos, you will discover lots to do like visiting Aqualand (largest water park on the Costa del Sol) and the old bullring where there is a public market twice a week, plus other exciting events.
The Parque de la Bateria is a lovely public park and has a boating lake and a children’s playground etc. It also possesses one of the best sports facilities in Europe namely the stadium “Cuidad de Torremolinos”.
The hotel we chose for our holiday was situated near Malaga Airport and was extremely clean and the staff were helpful and friendly. The buffet food was brilliant and catered for vegetarians.
I would recommend that you visit Torremolinos if you want a fun-filled holiday, or just want to take it easy.

Torremolinos is featured within FTHM Issue 64